[stop-imf] Sign-on letter; Stop pre-paid water meters!

[Robert Weissman]

SEND ALL RESPONSES TO: npetrie@citizen.org 



PLEASE POST IMMEDIATELY TO ALL RELEVANT LIST-SERVS

Dear Friends,

Below please find an international sign-on letter directed to the major
companies that produce pre-paid water meters.  The letter demands that
these companies immediately stop production of the meters.  Pre-paid
meters have been outlawed in Britain.  They are an international crime
committed against the human right to water.  Pre-paid meters are
designed to ensure that those who cannot pay will be denied access to
water. They have been linked to cholera outbreaks in South Africa.  The
companies listed below are selling these meters to governments and
private companies in South Africa, Namibia, Brazil, Tanzania, Nigeria,
Curacao and many other places.  To find out more about pre-paid water
meters go to: 
http://www.citizen.org/cmep/Water/cmep_Water/wssd/articles.cfm?ID=8210
http://qsilver.queensu.ca/~mspadmin/pages/Newsletter/MSP3.pdf
To sign-on to the letter below, please send the following information
to: npetrie@citizen.org (before September 2, 2002)

Name:
Organizational Affiliation:
Country:
(Include "right to water letter" on the subject line.)
The letter below will be hand delivered to the companies by NGO and
activist delegations in South Africa.

INTERNATIONAL SIGN-ON LETTER ON PRE-PAID METERS

August 24, 2002

Dear 	CONLOG, Chief Executive Officer
	CONLOG, General Manager, Dudley Miller
	MEINECKE, Chief Executive Officer
	MEINECKE, Managing Director, Basil Bold
	ATLANTIC METERS, Chief Executive Officer
	ATLANTIC METERS, Commercial Director, Nigel Ebdon

We, the undersigned representatives of organizations and individuals
from South Africa and around the world, are calling upon your company to
respect the human rights of all people.  The right to adequate water is
included in various international treaties, including the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  Water is a human
right and not a marketable commodity to which access can be determined
by whether or not one can pay.

The pre-paid water meters produced by your company are strategically
designed to deny water to those who cannot pay.  This is an outrage and
a transgression of basic human rights!  Pre-paid water meters were
declared illegal in the United Kingdom (U.K.) under the U.K. Water Act
of 1998.  They should be illegal in every country.  We call upon your
company to:

1. Immediately end production of pre-paid water meters;
2. Discontinue all current contracts to produce pre-paid water meters;
3. Refuse all future contracts to produce pre-paid water meters;
4. End all research into new technologies to improve pre-paid water meters.

We are aware that governments and private water companies are promoting
pre-paid water meters as part of the World Bank strategy to ensure "full
cost recovery" and neo-liberal government policies to cut subsidies for
basic human services.  The public health impact of these policies is
devastating.  Pre-paid water meters were declared illegal in the U.K.
after water cut-offs were linked to increased cases of dysentery and
other diseases related to lack of clean water.  Authoritative research
on the recent cholera outbreak in KwaZulu-Natal province, in South
Africa, concluded that its causes were linked to policies of increased
cost recovery, the installation of pre-paid meters, and the special
vulnerability of people living with HIV to cholera.

We call upon your company to exercise social responsibility.  Please end
production of all pre-paid water meters immediately.

Sincerely,










Sara Grusky
International Water Working Group
Water for All Campaign
Public Citizen
Phone: (202) 454-5133
Website: www.citizen.org/cmep/water